Q and A with Joni from Illinois, United States
“Never let a mistake or what you see as failure to stay with you for life. Live, learn, and move forward.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My passion and work is to assist rescue dogs and families with dog problems. Sharing my knowledge and wealth of experience hopefully keeps more dogs out of the shelter, where their fate is not always a good one.
I started assisting caregivers and then moved to dogs. When I started focusing on dogs, some people were surprised. Many were not. Fostering and having a rescue dog showed me how much dogs need help, especially shelter and rescue dogs.
I have been involved with many rescues, including fostering and sheltering. [“Fostering” means to provide a home-like environment in one’s residence, with the goal of reuniting the dog with their family or finding a permanent home later. “Sheltering” means providing basic care in a designated facility.]
Each experience taught me so much, as well as the mentors I met along the journey. Mentoring is important to me to keep dogs in a home and not dumped. My work includes helping owners learn to understand their dog as well as their dog’s nutrition needs. Each person has their own plan; we work together so that all are happy in a home. Along the way, I want to share with others how rescues are amazing dogs to have in a home.
This is Bandit. I rescued him at five weeks old. He is the one who got me involved to be the voice for dogs. We lost him in March 2024. He motivates me to help even more.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Growing up, I danced in a competition company as well as taught younger children how to dance. Doing this really taught me discipline to put the work in; you will not only improve, yet be able to do your passion as your career. I attended college to be a pre-k teacher. Sadly, teaching was not my thing, and I did not teach for more than three years.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: We all will make mistakes along our journey. Learn from them improve and move on. Never let a mistake or what you see as failure to stay with you for life. Live, learn, and move forward.
Thanks for reading!
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